Nokia CEO denies Microsoft is shafting his company by building its own phone

Nokia (NOK) has bet the farm that it would win big by being the first manufacturer to exclusively adopt Windows Phone. So far, that bet hasn’t paid off. What’s more, Microsoft’s (MSFT) decision to build its own Windows Phone smartphone has raised further doubts about the long-term viability of Nokia’s Windows Phone-only strategy. But in an interview with GigaOM this week, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop denied that Microsoft has given his company the short shrift and says that the company still has advantages that will differentiate it in the crowded market.

Among other things, Elop said that Nokia phones such as the Lumia 920 have a “low-light photography capability” that required years of original research and that won’t be easily matched by any rival. Elop also said that Microsoft “could” give Nokia exclusive access to certain parts or aspects of Windows Phone in the future, although he said that the company hadn’t done so yet. Elop also cited unspecified contractual rights that Nokia received by being the first company to exclusively use Windows Phone, but wouldn’t go into any details about what those rights entailed.